Dean Gisvold reports that one HRR application is pending and will probably be approved.Portland Comprehensive Plan voting will take place in May & June. This is the mostcomplicated land use document in Oregon history.

There will be a hearing in regard to the zoning proposed in the Comp Plan for the commerciallot at NE Brazee and 15th. It is currently non-conforming use in R-5 Zoning. The residentialZoning helps neighbors control the commercial aspects. For example, The Hop House has aGood Neighbor Agreement with the ICA and the neighborhood that says they will close earlierthan their liquor license would allow them to do so. Without the GNA and the residentialzoning, the owner of the liquor license could stay open until 2:00 AM.

The Land Use Committee is considering changes to the status of two homes. One isContributing to Non-Contributing. This home was designated Contributing in the surveyleading up to the Historic District designation, but was extensively remodeled and alteredprior to the official designation of the District. The other proposed change is Non-Contributing to Contributing. The LUC believes it was mislabeled as Non-Contributing.

7th Avenue Greenway Update

City Council met and is still looking at both 7th Avenue and 9th Avenue as a potential bicycleGreenway. Council has decided to table the idea until they have specific designs to consider.Neighbor Eliza Greenstadt speaks to the matter. She says that the ICA supports a Greenwayon 7th Avenue, but 8th Avenue neighbors disagree with that position. 7th Avenue is not anappropriate Greenway because the basic nature of the street would have to be changed. Onthe other hand, 9th Avenue has low traffic volume and is better suited for bikes. Greenstadtsays that auto traffic should be calmed on 7th Avenue but that changing it to a Greenway isnot the way to do it. It is a poor method for traffic control. She suggests looking at this astwo separate issues: Greenway location and traffic control.

It is noted by a few people that until we can see proposals for the Greenway it is difficult todiscuss options. Discussion follows including the concern of putting a bike path through IrvingPark. The general opinion is that bicycles, pedestrians and dogs should not be mixed. JeffJones notes that the initial plan for Irving Park called for bikes through the Park, but thereality is that that would be a problem.

Most agree 7th Avenue needs traffic calming. There must be a plan to keep people safe.There are too many cars driving too fast on 7th now.

Irvington School

Steve Cole reports that he spoke to PPS Board Member Paul Anthony about the proposal tosend King, Sabin, Boise and Irvington children to Tubman Middle School. Anthony says therewill be no decision until fall.

Jon Eaton reports that there is an email chain among Irvington School parents expressingconcern that if 154 middle school students are removed from Irvington School the IrvingtonSchool building will be under-utilized which may result in a loss of funds. The email stringalso suggests that moving that many Irvington students to Tubman makes Tubman overcrowded.

The discussion also points out the need for traffic control measures in order for Irvingtonstudents and Sabin students to cross MLK and Williams/Vancouver Streets safely. It’s noted,too, that there is no school crossing safety measure at NE 18th & Fremont.

It is also pointed out that it’s important to have stability in the schools. Too many changescause the children to suffer.

Non-Agenda Matter

Musician Chata Addy told the group that he is organizing a multi-cultural music festival andhopes to use the Irvington School grounds. For information contact him atBookingChata@chataaddy.com

Disaster Preparedness

Huck Bales reports that the disaster preparedness group has defined their Vision as InclusiveCommunity and the Mission is to Promote Disaster Preparedness.

Each neighborhood is supposed to have a Beacon which is a cache of supplies including a tent,first aid supplies and communication equipment. The cache that had been chained to a polein Irvington School, grounds was removed because of vandalism. Possible other sites includeIrving Park and Madeleine School.

Ryan Hashagen of Better Block reports that they spent approximately $13,000 to create theBetter Broadway test. The ICA had contributed $1500 toward the effort.

This was by far the largest project they’ve ever done and admit it was probably too big. Theyreduced the size over the week which helped considerably.

During the Better Broadway test, auto traffic lanes were reduced from three lanes to two, aprotected bike lane was added, parking spaces were moved away from the curb on the northside of Broadway creating an area for commercial street side activation. Better Block alsocreated a bus stop platform which Trimet thought worked well.

The feedback in the meeting was positive. Most agreed that the pedestrian experience wasimproved tremendously. Traffic was slowed and with just two lanes of traffic to cross, it wasmuch easier to cross Broadway on foot.

Better Block along with PSU students are collecting comments about Better Broadway and areanalyzing data about traffic speed. They will report back.

Communications

Tiffanie Shakespeare asks what do we want to do with the home tour website? Should it bemoved to SquareSpace? The current home tour site is an old setup and needs improvement.Should the current site be moved to a newer version of the current host? There was somedifficulty moving the ICA website to SquareSpace and the home tour passwords & securityissues make it difficult to move the home tour site. No action until after this year’s hometour.

Home Tour

Scheduled for May 15. Pam Lindholm Levy asks for more volunteers.

Officer Nomination Update

Peter O’Neil reports that we need officer nominations. According to ICA bylaws, Steve Coleand Jeff Jones are term limited as President and Treasurer respectively. Vice PresidentWilliam Archer is also leaving the Board (and Portland) in June and Secretary Beverley Burnwill not be returning either. So far no one other than Steve Cole and Jeff Jones are willing totake on the responsibilities of these positions.

It is suggested that the ICA could suspend term limits for some period. Discussion follows andis agreement with the idea. Comments include that it seems particularly important thatTreasurer not be term limited to ensure continuity.

Nathan Corser moves and Tiffanie Shakespeare seconds a motion that Officer term limits besuspended for one year and that revised articles shall be written into the bylaws during thisyear.

Passes unanimously.

Board elections will be held at the June 9, 2016 ICA meeting. All Irvington residents andproperty owners may vote in the June election.

New Business and Updates

Jeff Jones reports that there will be only one Movie in the Park this year. It will Star Wars onJuly 15, 2016 in Irving Park. Other Star Wars themed activities will be included including StarWars music.

Jason Messer reports that the Irvington Clean Up produced less trash than in past years. Theyonly collected 2.5 dumpsters. The Clean Up no longer accepts construction debris so thatmay have had an effect. Jason (and the Board agrees) especially thanks William Archer andArthur De Bow for their many years of enthusiastic support to the Clean Up. They will bemissed in years to come.